A State-sponsored land grab in Jammu and Kashmir

What’s wrong with the administration seeking to remove ‘encroachments’ from public land or ‘state land’? Plenty, people say in Jammu and Kashmir, where tehsildars have been given long lists of alleged encroachment and illegal construction. Some have been demolished, others have been served notices for eviction, their land lease cancelled and elsewhere signboards have come up declaring the land to be ‘state land’. The motive, say the people, is to create land banks for “outsiders”.

The J&K administration has gone into overdrive to recover land allegedly under ‘illegal occupation’ of the ‘land mafia’, and big businessmen and MLAs. Bulldozers are now a common sight in Jammu and Srinagar, and so are public protests, as people vent their anger and frustration at being dispossessed from property they have held for a long, long time— going up to 50-100 years. Some claim to have been resettled by the government after the migration that followed the Partition. Others were encouraged to cultivate the land if they could make it cultivable.

Responding to BJP leaders saying that people are welcome to move the courts, some people claimed there are no written orders that they can challenge. In some cases, land lease for commercial properties, shops and poultry have not been renewed without citing reasons.

BJP leaders and the Lt. Governor have come up with the usual platitudes: no innocent person will suffer, no injustice will be done, land from only a corrupt few is being recovered, it will be used for setting up industry and to generate employment. Orchestrated publicity of a few chosen targets, mostly those belonging to political parties opposed to the BJP, provide the talking points.

The sceptics are not convinced. Half the land in Kashmir valley is under forest cover. There are wetlands and protected sanctuaries. A substantial chunk is occupied by security forces. As a result, encroachments can be few.

In Jammu and the plains, it is somewhat different. In 1948, the Agricultural Lands Act, commonly known as the land-to-tiller Act, was passed. People having suffered for long under the harsh policies and taxation of the Dogra regime, the Act came as a relief. But after 50-70 years, the cultivated land is being declared as ‘state land’. Ironically, a large number of industrial units in and around Jammu, set up by SIDCO, have shut down.

Few individuals or business houses from outside J&K have bought land in the Valley since August 2019. “But the Indian government is keen that more and more non-Kashmiris buy land, and to expedite that process, the government is trying to mark as much land as ‘state land’ and create a land bank,” feels Ashok Swain, professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Sweden.

His assessment is echoed by many in J&K. The popular belief is that demographic change and reducing the Muslim majority in J&K to a minority has long been on the agenda of the BJP and RSS.

Shops in Srinagar on ‘public land’ are registered with three agencies, namely Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC); Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) and the Auqaf Committee, Srinagar (ACS), besides the privately owned business outlets on privately owned land.

Shopkeepers say they have been in possession for decades and have been paying the rent regularly. The rents were hiked periodically and the tenents paid. “Last year, the Auqaf Committee hiked the fare by 5,000 per cent; we paid it without any delay. After being in possession for 70-100 years and after having paid the rent regularly, how are we now illegal occupants,” asks Muhammad Amir of Aftab Market. Shopkeepers in Aftab Market had deposited the entire rent for the year 2023 with the SMC. “But they locked our shops and declared us to be ‘illegal’ occupants,” he added.

The shops were sealed after a complainant claimed that the land was illegally occupied. Following late night protests at the historic Lal Chowk, the administration relented and allowed shops to be reopened pending an inquiry. Why seal the shops before any inquiry is a question that remains unanswered.

“The present administration is even more cruel than Dogra rulers,” lamented a resident. The Kashmir valley has seen so much of violence in the last three decades that an entire generation has grown up with anxiety and trauma. This land grab campaign has added to the trauma, many residents complain.

“The revenue department has come up with various lists and distributed these lists to the tehsildars. When we checked the list at the tehsildar’s office, it seemed to include every inch of land in Srinagar as state land,” said Sajjad Gul, general secretary, Kashmir Traders and Manufactures Federation.

Contrary to claims, the economy in J&K is still in bad shape. “The unemployment rate at 30 per cent is higher than most other states. Domestic consumption and investments are also down,” economist Ejaz Ayoub pointed out. Tourism had shown signs of revival, he said, but the prevailing uncertainty threatens to disrupt the business.

He felt that the time is not right for disruptive policies. There was no urgency for the drive and there is a lot of ambiguity in the manner in which it is being implemented. Disruptive policies should have waited till the economy revived fully, the statehood is restored and elections to the assembly held. Why this urgency and why the lack of transparency?

Much of the tourism infrastructure is on lease and on government land. While the government appears determined to cancel or not renew current leases to local entrepreneurs and invite big business and capital from outside, the move is proving to be counterproductive. In its bid to build “world class” infrastructure, it is disturbing people and peace.

‘Jo kehtey sarkari hai, who zameen hamari hai’ slogans were raised in Jammu by protesters. Protests erupted around Bathindi, Malik Market, Channi Rama and Sunjwan areas of Jammu where people protested against eviction notices.

Holding a tricolour, Parth Sharma from Sunjwan explained that he was not personally affected as yet, but he had come to express solidarity. “There is no employment in the region and almost everyone is without regular jobs. But the administration is busy following policies and giving statements which keep Gujjar, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs divided; so that people do not talk about issues like jobs, inflation and employment,” Sharma fumed.

As with everything in J&K, conspiracy theories and political motives are being bandied around. “They have created a problem where there was none. They will use it to discredit the opposition and select targets. Finally, they will encourage local BJP leaders and friendly parties to broker a deal and a settlement,” said a bystander who refused to share his name.

Indeed, some BJP leaders can be seen joining in the protests. Some action has also been taken against former MLAs of the BJP for illegal encroachment. If what the bystander said turns out to be correct, it is a win-win situation for the BJP, which will eventually claim the credit for settling the issue.

The mood in the Valley, however, is different. Resentment and frustration with the Administration is building, and most people this correspondent spoke to seem to believe that this is a move to disempower Kashmiris both economically and politically.

The issue has drawn no attention in the ‘national media’ or the rest of the country. “The Indian civil society is very much under the spell of cultural nationalism. That explains the civil society’s silence on discrimination against Muslims in general and Kashmiri Muslims in particular,” explained Prof. Swain when asked on the silence in the country on Kashmir.